The Washington Capitals and Winnipeg Jets have dominted the NHL throughout the season. On Tuesday night these two talented teams go head to head. Puck drop is at 8 p.m. eastern on Monumental Sports Network and you can also listen to the game on 106.7 The Fan and Caps Radio 24/7.
The Caps come into this game with a 47-15-8 record for 102 points while the Jets are 48-19-4 with 100 points. The betting odds per Caesars have the Capitals as 1.5 goal underdogs on the road with +118 moneyline odds. The Jets are the favorite at -140 with an over/under of 5.5 goals.
#3 Offense and lots of it
The Caps are first in the League in goals scored per game at an average of 3.66. The Jets are ranked third at 3.45. In their last meeting which came on Feb. 1 at Capital One Arena, a combined nine goals were scored by both teams with Washington falling short in overtime 5-4.
On the Caps side of things they got goals from Pierre-Luc Dubois, Taylor Raddysh, Tom Wilson, and Alex Ovechkin. Logan Thompson would get the loss in net to Connor Hellebuyck. Josh Morrissey potted the game winning goal in overtime for Winnipeg.
The Capitals enter the final week of March having won nine of their last 10 games and are just ahead of the Jets in first place in the NHL. Washington completed their season sweep of the Atlantic Division leading and defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers on Saturday as they scored five goals in the first 20:59 minutes of the game in a 6-3 win.
In that contest the Capitals scored six or more goals in a game for a League leading 13th time this season. Over their last 10 games, Washington has outscored the opposition 41-24.
#2 A hungry Jets team
The Jets, as impressive as they are, fell to the Buffao Sabres 5-4 on Sunday. Prior to beating the Edmonton Oilers in overtime on March 20, they fell to the Vancouver Canucks 6-2 on March 18. Point? They can be beat.
Kyle Connor leads the Jets offense with 37 goals and 49 assists for 86 points. Mark Schifele is right behind him with 35 goals and 42 assists for 77 points. Hellebuyck leads the League in wins with 40 as he carries a 40-10-3 record with a League leading .924 save percentage and a 2.06 goals against average. Here's another prediction within this prediction, it'll come down to Hellebuyck and Logan Thompson for the Vezina Trophy at season's end.
#1 Power Play attacks
The Caps and Jets both have good power plays that a major key for Washington to win this game is to stay out of the box. Jets are ranked first in the NHL with a power play success rate of 30.1 percent while the Capitals are 16th at 22 percent.
In the last meeting the Caps allowed one power play goal to the Jets. They were able to kill off the next two penalties.
Final prediction: Capitals win 6-5. Alex Ovechkin and Tom Wilson both score twice. Caps get additional goals from Andrew Mangiapane and Aliaksei Protas.